This undulating segment begins just after your turn off the Three Maids roundabout, heading Northbound along the Andover Road.
A quite straightforward ride, you simply follow the smooth and flowing road for 1.8 miles with relatively few features to distract you from your effort. The route is undulating, with the main ‘riser’ occurring at around 0.9 miles into the segment.
This month sees the final showing for this year’s VC Venta Segment of the Month competition. October will prove a crucial test to decide the eventual winner of the women’s GC competition, as well settling the third-place position in the men’s GC competition.
This segment takes on a portion of the VC Venta Spring road race circuit. Running from the Three Maids roundabout along the Northern part of the Andover Road (A272) out of Winchester, as far as the the left turn for Crawley Road.
The catch is simple, this is a fast segment and you’ll need to have the hammer down the entire time, to give yourself any chance of setting a decent time. There is nowhere to hide and only a very short downhill at around eth 1-miel mark offers any sort of respite for weary legs and burning lungs.
This stretch of road caught out a number of riders at the start of this year’s road race, where the field exploded and the seemingly ‘flat’ sections suddenly seemed a lot more undulating and the risers felt a lot ‘steeper’ in parts when riders were all travelling at high speed.
The finish line sits 30 yards or so ahead of the left turn junction into Crawley Road and riders are encouraged to continue along the course of Andover Road when setting their segment efforts, rather than seek to slam on the brakes and make a quick left-hand turn at the last minute, which could potentially lead to an unfortunate outcome for themselves, or other road users.
Although this is a smooth and fast road segment, please remember that TT bikes and road bike tri-bar style handlebar attachments are not allowed to be used for our Segment of the Month competition.
Please remember to obey the rules of the road and remain vigilant for oncoming traffic when attempting to set a time on this segment. Also, as the evenings are now closing in and Autumn is upon us, please consider the safe and prudent use of front and rear lights where sensibly appropriate. The link to the segment is here: